T-Shirt Color Separation Guide

To purchase the PDF download for $29.99 USD, go to this page:

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The exercises in this book will teach a hands on approach to learning step by step color separations in Photoshop channels and you will learn how to think. How to solve the problems that you, the T-shirt artist, will be challenged with daily. You will learn the difference between RGB and CMYK channels, and how to use both of them to your advantage. How to separate 4 color process, simulated process, spot colors, creating base whites for dark t-shirts, mixing channels with vector graphics, splitting channels, creating halftones without the rip software, hot keys and the right tools to use in your daily routine and much, much more. Everything is written in an understandable day to day meaning and not in scientific mumbo jumbo. Complete and fully illustrated with exercises of actual working files and is accompanied with downloads of the same working Photoshop files used in each exercise. Included are files of complete separations for you to check your work to see how well your progress is going. All you need is Photoshop and a compatible vector program. After studying this book, you will know and understand channels in Photoshop. More importantly, you will know how to make T-shirt color separations.

My advice to new artists is not to limit yourself to one style or medium. Cross over into other avenues to get the most out of your art and don’t limit yourself to one thing.  You should constantly be exploring and developing different styles so you are not limited when a client wants to hire your service.

I was commissioned to paint two portraits. Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. I had not picked up a paint brush in 6 years,  so there was a little bit of a learning curve to jump back into traditional art.  I really enjoyed it and had time to work on them in between my other assignments.

Here are images of an idea for the River City Art Department  that I came up with during a slow period.  It began with just a sketch in Photoshop.  From there,  I pen and inked digitally in Illustrator. After I finished the inking, I decided to bring it back into Photoshop for coloring to create a cool T-Shirt design. From there it developed into a wall decal mural. I made a die cut for an image that was 8’ x 10’ feet.  This was split printed on two 12’ x 4’ foot vinyl sheets. It took about five of us to apply one, then peel the backing as we did this, then repeat with the second and match it. No easy feat on ladders and a very tacky substrate. After all was said and done, we had a very cool and inviting piece of art to show when clients tour the facility.

Sketched in Adobe Photoshop

Pen and ink in Adobe Illustrator

Colored in Adobe Photoshop

This is a DTG Print on a T-Shirt

Color Saturation and Hue Change for a Wall Decal

Marking Register Marks Between the Two Prints

Peeling Backing and Aligning the two Decals Vertically

Final Presentation!

Check back for more things to come as I work on developing my online tutoring and for some peeks at art and methods as I go. Thanks for stopping by my friends!

See Older posts On Sons of Anarchy

Kenny Johnson

The Legend: Joe Jusko

Jacob Vargas

Kim Coates

Drea de Matteo

Niko Nicotera

Kristen Renton

Legend: Allen Bellman

Kenny Johnson Autograph

Sam J. Jones/ Alex Ross Autograph(Rare)

Traded for a SOA Poster

Guide to T-shirt Design and Color Separation

To purchase the PDF download for $29.99 USD, go to this page:

BUY NOW

Hey Guys,

I have had a few life changes over the last couple of years,  so I have not had the time to maintain and post on this blog because of time restraints.  Now that things are calming down I will be able to give more time to assisting beginning and intermediate artists in the field of  T-shirt design and separations.  Most of you have found that there is not a lot of schooling in this field, and most of the skills are picked up from experience of trial and errors and/or working with other experienced artists in the field.  That’s what I hope to do here. I am a working stiff just like you and have gone through the same hurdles that you may be going through now.  Hopefully, I can guide you through some of these.

My primary skill sets are in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.  I have found these two programs work very well together along with a Wacom or Cintiq to create and produce a great T-Shirt design.  There are other programs I have used, but these are the two that I recommend and so much easier to get access for a monthly fee from the Adobe Creative Cloud.   You can download a 30 day free trial to help you get started.  This give s you beginners time to get the ball rolling and  get your career off the ground.

I am a Senior Graphic Designer with River City Sportswear in the San Marcos,  Texas locatio during the day and a freelance T-Shirt Designer/Color Separator in the evenings.  Weekends,  a little bit of everything.  Presently I am tutoring with a few people across the country through a program called Team Viewer,

where I can teach Photoshop and Illustrator on their own computer. I’m really excited about this!  It saves the students the travel and lodging expenses to come and learn at my studio here in Texas on weekends. Once I get this down,  it will be a great method for me to teach this to startup artists from a distance at a minimal cost.  Write for more details. mwdifferent@gmail.com.

Here are images of an idea for the River City Art Department  that I came up with during a slow period.  It began with just a sketch in Photoshop.  From there,  I pen and inked digitally in Illustrator. After I finished the inking, I decided to bring it back into Photoshop for coloring to create a cool T-Shirt design. From there it developed into a wall decal mural. I made a die cut for an image that was 8’ x 10’ feet.  This was split printed on two 12’ x 4’ foot vynl sheets. It took about five of us to apply one, then peel the backing as we did this, then repeat with the second and match it. No easy feat on ladders and a very tacky substrate. After all was said and done, we had a very cool and inviting piece of art to show when clients tour the facility.

Sketched in Adobe Photoshop

Pen and ink in Adobe Illustrator

Colored in Adobe Photoshop

This is a DTG Print on a T-Shirt

Color Saturation and Hue Change for a Wall Decal

Marking Register Marks Between the Two Prints

Peeling Backing and Aligning the two Decals Vertically

Final Presentation!

Check back for more things to come as I work on developing my online tutoring and for some peeks at art and methods as I go. Thanks for stopping by my friends!

See Older posts On Sons of Anarchy

Kenny Johnson

The Legend: Joe Jusko

Jacob Vargas

Kim Coates

Drea de Matteo

Niko Nicotera

Kristen Renton

Legend: Allen Bellman

Kenny Johnson Autograph

Sam J. Jones/ Alex Ross Autograph(Rare)

Traded for a SOA Poster

SONS OF ANARCHY

To purchase the PDF download, go to this page:

BUY NOW

Hello My Friends,

The Space City Comic Con commissioned Poster was a BIG success and gave me a lot of exposure. I got to meet most of the 20 stars at the show. Some even came to the table wanting to buy the posters!  That was so flattering, especially when a few of them wanted to get a shot of me and them with the poster on their own cell phones. It was a really cool feeling autographing for the stars!

BUY POSTERS HERE:

Exclusive poster and T-Shirts

Kenny Johnson

The Legend: Joe Jusko

Jacob Vargas

Kim Coates

Drea de Matteo

Niko Nicotera

Kristen Renton

Legend: Allen Bellman

Kenny Johnson Autograph

Sam J. Jones/ Alex Ross Autograph(Rare)

Traded for a SOA Poster

Hello My Friends,

I am introducing, "Hands-on" class experience in Photoshop color separations for T-shirts. A subject that is not really covered in any curriculum in colleges. Why? Because there is no exact method that applies to any one design or color and make-up of the material being printed. 

T-shirt color separation is an art form with a multitude of different methods in different software programs. All with the same goal. Taking a colorful design and splitting it into individual single colors that all come back together while printing on the press and duplicate the design on a T-shirt.

A few spot colors are fairly easy and simple. The real challenge is an illustrated design or photorealism that have no boundaries and a multitude of colors that are limited on how many colors can be printed on a particular press.

Each design requires its own type of execution. And you, the artist need to be able to improvise with each design to make it look good on the shirt. This requires different methods and techniques. Knowing how to get to to this point is what I teach.

My hands-on class study is 6 to 8 hours in one day, learning to separate real jobs. This is geared towards separating middle to high-end separations in Photoshop channels and some crossover into Illustrator. 

• This is a 1-3 student classes so I can give direct guidance to each individual. 

• Discount rates apply to more than one attendee.

• Located at Canyon Lake, Texas(Playground of Southwest Texas) in my studio on the lake. Located in between San Antonio and Austin. Many hotels can be reserved in the local area.

• You will need to bring your own computer. Laptop is preferred, Mac or PC. You must have Adobe Photoshop installed. Illustrator is not required, but it would be to your advantage to learn additional skills. If you don't have these programs you can download a tryout for free for 30 days http://www.adobe.com/downloads.html

• You will also get a copy of "The Art of T-Shirt Color Separation" PDF for reference in the future.

Contact me, Mitch Different for scheduling a class: 

mwdifferent@gmail.com

The class is not formal. It is very laid back, fun and friendly like any art department. An easy environment to learn. You will leave with the acquired skills and confidence you need to do separations on your own.

These are animates samples of what you will learn: